In general, dock seals and shelters prevent the ingress of outdoor environmental conditions or contaminants (e.g., rain, snow, wind, hot/cold temperatures, insects, animals, etc.) into the interior of a building (e.g., the dock area) and/or cargo area of a vehicle during the loading or unloading of the vehicle. Dock shelters and seals may also prevent the egress of conditioned air from within a building and/or a vehicle cargo area to the outdoor environment. In some instances, vehicles (e.g., the trailer or rear portion of a truck) may not be sufficiently centered relative to dock seals or shelters when backed into the seal or shelter to isolate the interior space of a building and adjacent vehicle cargo area from the outdoor environment. As a result, some dock seals and shelters compensate for some range of off-center vehicle positions within which the functionality of the seal or shelter is not compromised. Further, some structures of a seal or shelter, particularly side members, are capable of recovering from repeated impacts from the rear portions of off-center vehicles without sustaining substantial permanent deformation.
Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts. As used in this patent, stating that any part (e.g., a layer, film, area, or plate) is in any way positioned on (e.g., positioned on, located on, disposed on, or formed on, etc.) another part, means that the referenced part is either in contact with the other part, or that the referenced part is above the other part with one or more intermediate part(s) located therebetween. Stating that any part is in contact with another part means that there is no intermediate part between the two parts.